Heat Will Reportedly Target Carmelo Anthony This Summer

The Heat’s biggest potential weakness this summer could end up working to its extreme advantage. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh can opt out of their current contracts and either leave or re-up. Re-signing while taking discounts (again) would create massive cap room for the Heat, who have only a few players under contract for next season.

Always aggressive, the Heat have apparently set their sights on 2014’s best free agent not already in Miami: Carmelo Anthony. From ESPN.com:

Sources told ESPN.com that Heat officials and the team’s leading players have already started to explore their options for creating sufficient financial flexibility to make an ambitious run at adding New York Knicks scoring machine Carmelo Anthony this summer in free agency.

The mere concept would require the star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to all opt out of their current contracts by the end of the month and likely take further salary reductions in new deals that start next season to give Miami the ability to offer Anthony a representative first-year salary. The Heat also are prevented from making any formal contact with Anthony until July 1 and can do so then only if he opts out of the final year of his current contract. Anthony has until June 23 to notify the Knicks of his intentions, according to sources.

Signing Anthony would give Miami four of the first five players selected in the extraordinary 2003 Draft. No word on if they’ve contacted Darko Milicic.